Trevor Ariza was on fire Monday night. He was on fire from the corner — 4-of-4 on corner threes on Monday night. Heck he was hot from everywhere — 24 points on 8-of-9 shooting.

With Bradley Beal out the Wizards need shooting to space the floor out for Nene inside, to create lanes for John Wall, they need someone to run to the arc in transition. Monday that was Ariza and with him knocking down shots Washington cruised to a win over Orlando.

The win moved the Wizards to 9-9 — that makes them the No. 3 seed in the East, and it is the first time the Wizards have been .500 or better since November of 2009. That may not be impressive to you but it’s worth celebrating in the nation’s capital.

I’m excited. I was worried when they started the season off terribly but I like that they are establishing a good identity. If they can start playing defense like they did last season, things will only get better. Hope BB comes back soon, too.

What’s impressive is that they’re playing everybody tough. Only blowout loss was last week in Indiana when Nene didn’t play. Their top 6 of Wall, Gortat, Nene, Ariza, Beal and Webster are super solid and match up well with the elite. They’ve won 5 of 6 without Beal during a 9 games in 12 days brutal stretch. Now, they’ve got a couple of slow weeks with only 3 games to get in some practice and get healthy.